Coryphantha
Coryphantha ramillosa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae
Subfamily: Cactoideae
Tribe: Cacteae
Genus: Coryphantha
(Engelm.) Lem.
Species

See text

Coryphantha (from Greek, "flowering on the top"), or beehive cactus, is a genus of small to middle-sized, globose or columnar cacti. The genus is native to arid parts of Central America, Mexico, through Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas and north into southwestern, central, and southeastern Montana. With its two subgenera, 57 species and 20 subspecies, it is one of the largest genera of cactus.[1]

Description

There are four characteristics that distinguish Coryphantha from other cacti.

  1. Their bodies do not have ribs, just tubercles.[2]
  2. The flowers form at the top of the plant (the apex or growing end of the stem).[1]
  3. The tip (podarium) of each flowering tubercle has three parts, the spiny areole, the groove and the axil. Without the groove it is not a Coryphantha.[1]
  4. The seed coat (or testa) has a net-like pattern (reticulate).[3]

More than many other cacti, the Coryphantha change in their appearance over their lifespan.[4] The presence or absence of a central spine is not indicative of the genus, even in fully adult plants.[4]

Name

The name Coryphantha was first applied by George Engelmann in 1856 as a subgenus,[5] the earlier name Aulacothele of Lemaire having been abandoned.[6] In 1868 Lemaire promoted the group to genus level.[5][6] Before this all Coryphantha had been classified as Mammillaria.

Species

ImageScientific nameSubspeciesDistribution
Coryphantha clavata (Scheidw.) Backeb.
  • Coryphantha clavata subsp. clavata
  • Coryphantha clavata subsp. stipitata (Scheidw.) Dicht & A.Lüthy
 Mexico
Coryphantha compacta (Engelm.) OrcuttMexico (to Sonora)
Coryphantha cornifera (DC.) Lem.Mexico
Coryphantha delaetiana (Quehl) A.BergerMexico.
Coryphantha delicata L.BremerMexico.
Coryphantha difficilis (Quehl) OrcuttMexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí)
Coryphantha durangensis (Runge ex K.Schum.) Britton & Rose
  • Coryphantha durangensis subsp. cuencamensis (L.Bremer) Dicht & A.Lüthy
  • Coryphantha durangensis subsp. durangensis
 Mexico (Durango, Coahuila).
Coryphantha echinoidea (Quehl) Britton & RoseMexico
Coryphantha echinus (Engelm.) Britton & RoseCentral Texas to NE. Mexico
Coryphantha elephantidens (Lem.) Lem.
  • Coryphantha elephantidens subsp. bumamma (Ehrenb.) Dicht & A.Lüthy
  • Coryphantha elephantidens subsp. elephantidens
  • Coryphantha elephantidens subsp. greenwoodii (Bravo) Dicht & A.Lüthy
 Mexico.
Coryphantha erecta (Lem. ex Pfeiff.) Lem.Mexico (to Veracruz)
Coryphantha georgii Boed.Mexico.
Coryphantha glanduligera (Otto & A.Dietr.) Lem.Mexico (to Jalisco).
Coryphantha glassii Dicht & A.LüthyMexico (Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí).
Coryphantha gracilis Bremer & A.B.LauMexico (Chihuahua).
Coryphantha hintoniorum Dicht & A.Lüthy
  • Coryphantha hintoniorum subsp. geoffreyi Dicht & A.Lüthy
  • Coryphantha hintoniorum subsp. hintoniorum
 Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí)
Coryphantha jalpanensis BuchenauMexico (Querétaro to Hidalgo)
Coryphantha kracikii Halda, Chalupa & KupčákMexico (Durango)
Coryphantha longicornis Boed.Mexico (Coahuila, Chihuahua, Durango)
Coryphantha maiz-tablasensis Fritz Schwarz ex Backeb.Mexico (to Jalisco)
Coryphantha neglecta L.BremerMexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León).
Coryphantha nickelsiae (K.Brandegee) Britton & RoseTexas to Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León)
Coryphantha octacantha (DC.) Britton & RoseMexico (to Jalisco).
Coryphantha ottonis (Pfeiff.) Lem.Mexico.
Coryphantha pallida Britton & Rose
  • Coryphantha pallida subsp. calipensis (Bravo ex S.Arias, Gama & U.Guzmán) Dicht & A.Lüthy
  • Coryphantha pallida subsp. pallida
  • Coryphantha pallida subsp. pseudoradians (Bravo) U.Guzmán & Vázq.-Ben.
 Mexico (Veracruz, Puebla, Oaxaca)
Coryphantha poselgeriana (A.Dietr.) Britton & RoseMexico.
Coryphantha potosiana (Jacobi) Glass & R.A.FosterMexico (Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas)
Coryphantha pseudoechinus Boed.
  • Coryphantha pseudoechinus subsp. laui (L.Bremer) Dicht & A.Lüthy
  • Coryphantha pseudoechinus subsp. pseudoechinus
 Mexico.
Coryphantha pseudonickelsiae Backeb.Mexico (Durango, Chihuahua, Coahuila)
Coryphantha pulleineana (Backeb.) GlassMexico (Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí)
Coryphantha pycnacantha (Mart.) Lem.Mexico.
Coryphantha ramillosa Cutak
  • Coryphantha ramillosa subsp. ramillosa
  • Coryphantha ramillosa subsp. santarosa Dicht & A.Lüthy
 SW. Texas to NE. Mexico
Coryphantha recurvata (Engelm.) Britton & Rose
  • Coryphantha recurvata subsp. canatlanensis Dicht & A.Lüthy
  • Coryphantha recurvata subsp. recurvata
 Arizona to Mexico (Sonora)
Coryphantha retusa (Pfeiff.) Britton & RoseMexico (Puebla, Oaxaca)
Coryphantha robustispina (Schott ex Engelm.) Britton & Rose
  • Coryphantha robustispina subsp. robustispina
  • Coryphantha robustispina subsp. scheeri (Lem.) N.P.Taylor
 Arizona to SW. New Mexico and Mexico (Sonora)
Coryphantha salinensis (Poselg.) Dicht & A.Lüthy. Mexico
Coryphantha sulcata (Engelm.) Britton & RoseTexas to Mexico (Coahuila, Tamualipas, Nuevo León)
Coryphantha tripugionacantha A.B.LauMexico (Zacatecas, Jalisco)
Coryphantha vaupeliana Boed.Mexico (Tamaulipas, Durango, Zacatecas)
Coryphantha vogtherriana Werderm. & Boed.Mexico (Jalisco to San Luis Potosí)
Coryphantha werdermannii Boed.Mexico (Coahuila, Chihuahua, Durango)
Coryphantha wohlschlageri HolzeisMexico (Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí)

Synonymy

The genus has two valid synonyms:

and three invalid ones:

  • Aulacothele Monv. (nom. inval.)
  • Glandulifera (Salm-Dyck) Fric (nom. inval.)
  • Roseia Fric (nom. inval.)

A number of Coryphantha have previously been classified in other genera, indeed the type species C. sulcata was originally named Mammillaria sulcata[7] Other examples include Echinocactus salinensis Poselger 1853 now Coryphantha salinensis (Poselger) Dicht and A.Lüthy 1998[8] and Neolloydia pulleineana Blackberg 1948 now Coryphantha pulleineana (Blackberg) Glass 1968.[9]

Similarly, a number of other species have been previously classified as Coryphantha. For example, Escobaria vivipara was called Coryphantha vivipara.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA. Springer, Berlin, p. 1, ISBN 3-540-22306-1
  2. ↑ Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) "3.2 Tubercles" Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA. Springer, Berlin, pp. 9–12, ISBN 3-540-22306-1
  3. ↑ Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) "3.7 Seeds" Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA. Springer, Berlin, p. 17-20, ISBN 3-540-22306-1
  4. 1 2 Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA. Springer, Berlin, p. 2, ISBN 3-540-22306-1
  5. 1 2 3 4 Anderson, Edward F. (2001) "Coryphantha" The Cactus Family. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, p. 186, ISBN 0-88192-498-9
  6. 1 2 Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA. Springer, Berlin, p. 23, ISBN 3-540-22306-1
  7. ↑ Britton, Nathaniel Lord and Brown, Addison (1913) An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British possessions, from Newfoundland to the parallel of the southern boundary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the 102d meridian (2nd edition) Scribner, New York, pp. 1–3, OCLC 852525
  8. ↑ Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (1998) "Im Feld wiederaufgefunden: Coryphantha salinensis (Poselger) Kakteen und andere Sukkulenten 49(11): pp. 256ff., in German
  9. ↑ Glass, Charles (1968) "Cactaceas Mexicanas Poco conocidas" Cactaceas y Suculentas Mexicanas 2: pp. 34ff., in Spanish
  10. ↑ Hunt, David R. and Benson, Lyman (1976) "The lectotype of Coryphantha". Cactus and Succulent Journal (U.S.) 48: pp. 72ff.
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